THE COUNSELING NOT CRIMINALIZATION IN SCHOOLS ACT
The federal government has spent roughly $1 billion in federal funds on increased police presence in schools and additional funding on school hardening measures. Recent research has also directly linked the COPS Program funding to negative outcomes for students, including decreasing graduation rates and college enrollment rates and increased disciplinary rates. Another study found that increasing the number of SROs through these federal grants increases “the criminalization of school discipline” while not improving school safety.
Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (MA-07) and Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT), along with Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Congresswoman Ilhan Omar (MN-05), Congressman Jamaal Bowman (NY-16), and Senator Tina Smith (D-MN), unveiled the Counseling Not Criminalization in Schools Act, to help end policing and criminalization of young people in schools, invest in safe and nurturing school climates that support all students and bring an end to the over-policing of young people in schools.
The bill specifically does this by:
● Explicitly prohibiting federal funds to support the hiring, recruitment and placement of police officers on K-12 school campuses.
● Establishing a $5 billion grant program to invest in school districts seeking to replace law enforcement officers with adequately trained personnel like counselors, social workers, nurses, mental health practitioners and trauma informed personnel, which have been proven to create safer and more inclusive learning environments in schools.
● Grant funds may also be used to implement school wide behavioral interventions and supports, restorative justice programs and interventions and evidence-based trauma informed services to improve school climates.
Grant funds may not be used to:
● Establish zero tolerance school discipline policies which result in students being suspended, expelled and referred to law enforcement at higher rates
● Purchase, maintain or install surveillance technology, including metal detectors or software to mine the technology use of students
● Arm teachers, school leaders or any other school personnel on campus
How does the Counseling Not Criminalization Act advance the fight for police-free schools?
1. Directly stops the flow of money to support law enforcement in schools from the federal government:
● The federal government has spent roughly $1 billion in federal funds on increased police presence in schools and additional funding on school hardening measures with no increased safety or improved climates, the evidence shows that school-based police have no place in that environment
● Recent research has also directly linked the COPS Program funding to negative outcomes for students, including decreasing graduation rates and college enrollment rates and increased disciplinary rates. Another study found that increasing the number of SROs through these federal grants increases “the criminalization of school discipline” while not improving school safety.
2. This bill incentivizes districts to end policing and to have access to more funding:
● When applying for funding through the $5 Billion program created in this bill, education agencies must state that they will terminate any existing contract with local law enforcement or, where applicable, dissolve school district-based police departments, at least 30 days prior to the entity receiving funds under this section. In addition, districts will get priority for funding if they have already terminated their policing relationships.
3. Signals to local districts all across the country that money should not go to police in schools:
● The federal government must listen to the urgent call to defund police and shift its priorities by acting consistently across and within agencies, defunding programs that support state and local law enforcement, and scaling up its funding for programs that support true public safety.